Screen printing apparatus



Aug. 23, 190 P. G. CLONIS ET AL SCREEN PRINTING APPARATUS n 1 mm 8 My v06 n Hm 1G s n m 0 e t h U s h 4 P Filed Oct. 24, 1956 James A. Mc Dormanhis Attorney Aug. 23, 1960 P. G. CLONIS EI'AL SCREEN PRINTING APPARATUSS n Y w m m Q m I o m 0 2 n m M n e m a a m .D Mn m 5 I G c m W w 3 y mM. 1 e w .2 s 9 t A m I M. 6 3 2 il ii. P-hF HHW H t 5 U S THE, Mu 0 S 4mm lnfififi flmlww fi. H e 1 m. Q 6 w v MW F RV. M a m a: 6 5 9 1 M t 0C 0 d e l 1 F Aug. 23, 1960 P. G. CLONIS ETAL SCREEN PRINTING APPARATUS4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 24, 1956 inventors: Plouton G. Clonis JamesA.M :Dorman their Attorney Aug. 23, 1960 P. G. CLONIS ETAL SCREENPRINTING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 24, 1956 ESQ f o n W mumwCO 0 .m .D 6 A n. w wA U .mu W 5 m z a a 2 0 \MT 3 w mwfig m m w y 5 xa z U RP their Attorney SCREEN PING APPARATUS Piouton G. (Ilonis,Camden, and James A. McDorman, Palmyra, NJ.

Filed Oct. 24, 1956, Ser. No. 618,042

Claims. (Cl. 101-122) This invention relates to apparatus for printingon sheet material and has for its primary object to provide apparatusfor practicing, on a continuous basis, the screen printing process ofPlouton G. Clonis application Serial No. 592,525, filed June 20, 1956,now abandoned, wherein a printing medium is sprayed directly through ascreen bearing a design onto the surface to be printed.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus for printing onsheet material wherein the printing medium is sprayed through an endlessscreen bearing a design and of suihciently open mesh to pass theprinting medium directly to the surface to be printed and the sheetmaterial is supported and travels with the screen during the stage inwhich its surface is presented for printing, whereby the apparatus isenabled to print on material in either individual or continuous sheetform.

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus of thecharacter described wherein the screen bearing the design is of suchconstruction and so arranged relative to the back-up roll or similardevice by which the sheet material is presented for printing as to holdthe material firmly thereon during printing.

An additional object of the invention is to provide apparatus of thecharacter described wherein the material to be printed is supportedduring the printing stage on a back-up roll and thereafter supportedbetween an associated endless belt conveyor and the continuous screensubstantially to the point of discharge, thus enabling the apparatustoprint on skins or other indi vidual sheets of material, as well as onmaterial in continuous sheet form, fed in sequence into the machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the characterdescribed wherein the spraying device is reciprocated axially of theback-up roll and its reciprocation and the linear speeds of the back-uproll and design bearing screen are so synchronized as to ensureuniformity of printing upon the surface of the sheet material presentedfor printing.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the characterdescribed wherein the means through which the endless screen is drivenare availed of to enable the screen to be tensioned transversely andwith longitudinal tensioning means, serve to maintain the screen inregister with the surface being printed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter inthe detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred form of the screenprinting apparatus of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the apparatus of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 ofFigure l with the hood removed and only its outline indicated indot-and-dash line to more clearly illustrate certain of the details ofconstruction;

Patented Aug. '23, 1960 Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary verticalsectional view taken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view on the scale of Figure4 taken along the lines 5-5 of Figure 2; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view of an end portion of the screen andassociated driving chain on a sutficient scale to indicate the opennessof the weave of the printing areas on the screen.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, in which like referencecharacters designate like parts, the improved screen printing apparatusof the present invention is adapted for printing on sheet material,whether available only in individual form, such as skins, or in eitherindividual sheet or continuous strip form, such as paper, fabric orflexible plastic or metal sheeting, and to apply to such material adesign of practically any desired degree of detail and repetitive forany given length of the material. It thus is suited equally for printingelectrical circuits for use in the electronics industry, at one extreme,and for applying designs to dress fabrics or wallpaper, at the other.

The screen printing apparatus of the present invention comprisesbasically a frame carrying a back-up device for supporting andprogessively presenting for printing a surface of a skin or other sheetmaterial, a spraying device directed at the back-up device for sprayingan atomized printing medium on the surface to be printed and acontinuous or endless screen bearing a design and passing in part of itstravel about the frame between the spraying and back-up devices,together with the driving mechanism and other components needed tocoordinate the operation upon the sheet material and to feed-thematerial into and remove it from the apparatus, the particular detailsdepending on whether the apparatus is to handle individual or continuoussheets or both. The several basic components are all contained in thedisclosed embodiment which, While particularly designed for handlingindividual sheets, such as skins, will also handle continuous sheets ofmaterial. The disclosed apparatus is comprised of a preferablyparallel-sided frame 1 having at either of its sides 2 longitudinallyspaced uprights 3 which surmount a base 4, desirably in the form of apair of transversely spaced bottom rails 5, and are connected at oradjacent their upper extremities by transversely spaced longitudinallyextending top rails 6, the frame 1 conveniently being made of structuralshapes of appropriate size and shape welded or otherwise connectedtogether and its sides 2 being suit ably cross-braced to rigidity thestructure. At one, here the infeed, end 7 of the frame 1, therepreferably is provided a subframe or stand 8 of cast, welded or otherconstruction sufliciently rugged to support the principal operatingparts of the apparatus, its sides 9 forming the lower part of theuprights 3 at that end of the frame.

Surmounting and supported on the subframe 8 for rotation about ahorizontal axis extending transversely of the frame 1 is a back-up orwork-supporting drum, roll or equivalent backing or supporting deviceill for presenting a surface of a skin S or other sheet material forprinting. For applying ink or another of the printing media described inthe above-mentioned Clonis application Which may be appropriate for theparticular sheet material and design to be printed, there confronts theperiphery 11 of the drum 10 a spraying device in the form of oneor moreair guns or brushes 12, reciprocable axially of the drum and so disposedas to direct a jet 13 of atomized fluid substantially radially of theback-up drum and mounted to cover a segment or portion of the drumsurface from end to end during a given interval in the rotation of thedrum. For the illustrated single air gun, this entails so mounting thegun as to enable it to reciprocate between the sides 2 of the frame, andis accomplished in the disclosed embodiment by mounting the gun .12 on apair of guide rails or rods 14 anchored at opposite ends in the sides ofthe frame and reciprocably driving it in the manner hereinafter to bedescribed.

Since the illustrated gun 12 is conventional and its details form nopart of the present invention, it sufiices to point out that it iscomposed of an oval body 15 from the front end of which projects,radially of the drum 10, a tube or pipe 16 to the end of which isconnected a spray head or nozzle 17. The gun 12 is connected by flexiblehose or tubing 18 to suitable sources of supply (not shown) of air andliquid printing medium. Of the three .tubes leading to the illustratedgun, one, that immediately behind the nozzle 17, supplies the atomizingair while the other two supply, respectively, liquid printing medium andair under pressure, the latter by controlling the position of aspring-pressed piston (not shown) within the body 15, opening or closingthe body to the printing medium. As usual in such guns, there is, inaddition, a handle 19 for operating a needle valve (not shown) toregulate the richness of the mixture emitted from the nozzle.

For limiting the area of the drum 10. to which the atomized printingmedium may have access to that directly in front of the gun 12 so as toensure clarity of printing, the surface 11 of the drum is shielded orprotected from the spray by a shield 20 extending across the frame 1above and below the level of the gun and interrupted over that level bya substantially rectangular slot 21 extending the length of the drum andof a width sufficient to include the spread of the jet 13 from the gun.The shield in turn is part of a hood 22 which, about and below the levelof the spray gun, may be enclosed at either side and, above that level,preferably is fully enclosed to contain the excess atomized medium and,if desired, exhaust it through a suitable exhaust fan and duct (notshown).

Partly wrapping the drum 10 over a portion of its circumference,including that exposed through the slot 21 to the jet from the spray gun12, is a continuous or endless flexible screen 23. Woven in the samemanner and of any of the materials described in the Clonis applicationand having its design 24, of which that disclosed is merely exemplary,applied in any of the ways therein described which is suitable for theparticular design to be printed, the screen 23 will have its printingareas 25 of such open mesh as to pass the printing medium directly fromthe spray gun 12 to the surface to be printed. As will be noted, thescreen 23 in its path or travel follows roughly the perimeter of theframe 1, traveling thereabout on guide rollers or pulleys 26 havingtheir axes disposed substantially parallel to that of the drum 10, theconsequent length of its run or travel ensuring maximum opportunity forair drying in case the printing medium employed is relativelyslow-drying.

Guided over the drum 10 during printing by the screen 23, the sheetmaterial, if in continuous strip or sheet form, readily could be guidedover a portion of the path of the screen by some of the guide rollers 26until it had reached a convenient point for discharge from theapparatus. However, in dealing with individual sheets of material, suchas the disclosed skins S, provision must be made for conveying thematerial to a discharge point. This is here accomplished by theprovision of an endless belt conveyor 27 running over a drive roller orpulley 28 positioned below the drum 10 and thereafter in its forwardtravel running on the related of the guide rollers 26 of the screen 23until it reaches a discharge station 29 at the rear end of the frame 1,whence, after passing over a take-up roller 30, it runs on its own setof idler pulleys 31 back to the drive pulley.

With the faces of the screen 23 and conveyor 27 parallel and, in theabsence of sheet material, pressing against or engaging each other asthey run to the discharge station, the leading edge of a skin or otherindividual sheet of material, as it leaves the drum 10, will drop intothe trough-like opening 32 provided between the screen and the conveyorimmediately below the drum and be conveyed or conducted by the screenand conveyor together to the discharge station 29. As will be noted, thescreen and conveyor, in their common path, travel first downwardly andfinally upwardly so as to clear the central portion of the frame for thepurpose hereinafter described and in the downward and upward portions oftheir common path are inclined, this to facilitate their holding thematerial flat as it is carried to the discharge point. Too, theconveyor, in the last portion of the forward path beyond the point atwhich it separates from the screen, desirably projects substantiallyhorizontally outwardly of the rear end of the frame to provide a run-outor horizontal leg 33 for discharging the sheet material for furtherhandling. Since the conveyor 27 may pick up printing medium from thescreen 23 as well as. matter from the underside of the sheet material,it sometimes will be desirable to remove any excess matter from theconveyor in advance of its point of contact with the sheet material. Aspring-pressed rubber scraper or scraper blade 34, mounted to bearagainst the surface of the conveyor as it rounds its drive roller 28,has been found adequate for this purpose.

Since, to prevent blurring of the printing, either while the sheetmaterial is being printed or thereafter as it is conducted to thedischarge point, it is necessary to avoid slippage between the materialand the screen, an important feature of the present invention is thedriving mechanism, designated generally as 35, for driving the drum 10and screen 23 in synchronism or concert and with the partial wrap of thedrum by the screen and the sheet material ensuring intimate contactbetween and registry of the screen and the sheet material duringprinting. This driving mechanism may have its electric motor or otherpower means 36 mounted at one side of the frame 1 and preferably has avari-pulley or other speed adjusting device 37 interposed between it andthe other driven components of the device.

For positiveness of drive, chain and sprocket connections are providedbetween the take-off 38 of the speed changing device and the drivencomponents, the takeofl? being connected directly to reduction gearing39 mounted on a common shaft 40 and therethrough drivably connected to asprocket wheel 41 on the drum 10.

Both the screen 23 and conveyor 27 are driven 01f the drum to coordinatetheir linear or peripheral speeds, the conveyor through a gear 42 fixedto its drive roller 28 and intermeshing with a gear of the same sizefixed to the adjoining of the guide rollers 26 of the screen. For a dualpurpose, one to drive the screen 23, the drum 10 has fixed to its shaft40, in addition to its drive wheel 41, a pair of sprocket wheels 43, onetoward either end. All three of these wheels are of the same size andover each of the pair 43 runs, at either side of the frame 1, a sprocketchain 44 which follows the path of the screen 23 and runs over asprocket wheel 45 fixed to each of the screens guide rollers 26.

While ordinarily it would sufiice to drive the screen through but one ofits guide rollers 26, the pair of sprocket chains 44 at either side ofthe screen serve a very useful purpose in the apparatus. Flexiblevertically but relatively stiff against lateral displacement, thesechains afford lateral anchorages through which the screen can betautened or tensioned transversely, as by reinforcing the screen ateither side by edge tapes 46 and piercing each of the tapes by eyeletsor grommets 47 for resiliently connecting the screen at spaced points tothe bounding chains 44. The resilient connection in the illustratedembodiment is obtained by coil springs 48, one looped through each ofthe grommets 47, and having its ends connected to an adjoining of thelinks 49 of the chains 44. Any

linear slack in the screen and associated chains may be taken up byconstructing one or more of the guide rollers 26 as a take-up roller.Thus tautened or tensioned both linearly and transversely, the screenserves to hold the sheet material being printed in tight engagement withthe supporting periphery 11 of the drum and itself and the sheetmaterial in register during printing.

It has been mentioned that the driving connection between the powertake-ofl 38 and the drum 10 is through intervening reduction gearing 39.It is the latter that is here employed to reciprocate the spray gun 12across the slot 21 in synchronization with the linear or peripheralspeed of the drum so as to ensure that the exposed surface of the sheetmaterial has been printed completely when it leaves the printingstation. Conversion of the rotary movement of the driven shaft 40 of thereduction gearing 39 to reciprocable movement of the spray gun parallelto the axis of that shaft is obtained a bevel gears 50, one fixed to theshaft 40 and the other drivably connected by a sprocket chain 51 to agear 52 which, through an eccentric linkage 53, causes a larger gear 54to oscillate. The latter, in turn, drives a pulley 55 about which and apair of idler pulleys 56 of parallel axis, one at either end of theguide rails 14, runs a wire or cable 57, the ends of which are anchoredto the base plate on which the spray gun is carried. With thisarrangement and slippage of the cable 57 over its driving pulley 55inhibited by an entire friction mounting of the base plate 58 of theguide rails 14, it is a simple matter to synchronize the speed ofreciprocation of the spray gun relative to the linear speed of thescreen and, since the drives are inter-connected, this relation willobtain regardless of the speed at which the drum 1t and screen 23 aredriven.

To permit access to the interior of the apparatus and particularly topermit observance of the printing as it proceeds, the frame 1 is openbetween its rear end and the printing station, designated as 59, atwhich the sheet material is printed, and has a platform 69 extendingfrom side to side on which an operator can stand and beneath which runthe screen 23 and conveyor 27 in their forward travel. To preventaccidental damage to the screen by such an operator, its inner face asit passes up the rear end of the frame preferably is covered by a grill61 extending substantially to the top rails 6. The main control box 62,containing both on and ofl controls for starting and stopping the powermeans 36, is positioned above the printing station so as to beaccessible to an operator standing on the platform 60 and supplementalcontrol boxes 63 for permitting the power means to be cut off in thecase of an emergency are provided at both the discharge station 29 andthe feed station 64 at the infeed end 7 of the frame 1.

, To direct sheet material onto the drum it particularly if theapparatus is to be fed manually, rather than automatically, therepreferably is provided at the feed station a shelf 65 which is mountedon the subframe 8 and directed substantially tangential to the periphery11 of the drum. This shelf, in the case of skins, not only facilitatesfeeding of the individual sheets of material, but affords opportunityfor smoothing the sheets as they enter onto the drum. At the dischargestation, the run-out or horizontal leg 33 of the belt conveyor 27, ontowhich the sheet material passes as the conveyor and screen separate,serves effectively to discharge the material from the apparatus forfurther handling elsewhere. If the printing is to be multi-color, thematerial, after it leaves the first printing station, may be conductedthrough a sequence of printing stations, each having substantially thesame basic components and synchronized in drive with the first, and thescreens of the several stations being matched for applying a differentcolor at each.

From the above detailed description, it will be apparent that there hasbeen provided improved screen printing apparatus which, while comparablein the quality of its product with the silk screen process, unlike thatprocess as now practiced is adapted for continuous printing on sheetmaterial, whether in individual or continuous sheet form. It should beunderstood that the described and disclosed embodiment is merelyexemplary of the invention and that all modifications are intended to beincluded which do not depart from either the spirit of the invention orthe scope of the appended claims.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. Screen printing apparatus comprising a frame, a back-up drumrotatably mounted on said frame, an endless fiexible screen separatefrom said drum and mounted on said frame for movement in a substantiallyfixed path, said screen in a portion of its path partially wrapping saiddrum and intimately contacting sheet material sup porting thereon, andspray means mounted on said frame and reciprocable axially of said drumfor directing printing medium at said screen in the portion of the paththereof partially wrapping said drum, said screen bearing a design andhaving its printing areas of open mesh to pass printing medium from saidspraying means directly onto a surface to be printed of said sheetmaterial.

2. Screen printing apparatus comprising a frame, a work-supporting drumrotatably mounted on said frame, a spray gun directed at and mounted onsaid frame for reciprocation axially of said drum, an endless flexiblescreen separate from and partially wrapping said drum and intimatelycontacting work supported thereon, said screen bearing a design andhaving printing areas of open mesh to pass printing medium directly fromsaid gun to a presented surface of said Work, and means for driving saiddrum and screen and reciprocating said gun in synchronism.

3. Screen printing apparatus comprising a frame, a work-supporting drumrotatably mounted on said frame, a flexible screen separate from saiddrum and mounted on said frame for travel about a path including asegment of the periphery of said drum, said screen over said segmentregistering with an intimately contacting work supported on said drum,spray means for directing a printing medium at said included segment ofsaid periphery, said screen bearing a design and having printing areasof open mesh to pass said printing medium directly to a presentedsurface of said work, and an endless conveyor facially engaging saidscreen for gripping work therebetween as it leaves said drum andconveying said Work therefrom to a discharge point.

4. Screen printing apparatus comprising a frame, a Work-supporting drumrotatably mounted on said frame, driving means for rotating said drum, aflexible screen separate from said drum and mounted on said frame fortravel in a path including a segment of the periphery of said drum, saidscreen over said segment registering with and intimately contacting worksupported on said drum, spray means mounted on said frame andreciprocable axially of said drum for directing a spray of printingmedium at said included segment of said periphery, said screen bearing adesign and having printing areas of open mesh to pass said printingmedium directly to 2. presented surface of said work, chain means atopposite sides of and corresponding in path of travel to said screen fordrivably connecting said screen to said drum, said chain means beingsubstantially rigid against transverse deflection, and means resilientlyconnecting said screen to said chain means for transversely tensioningsaid screen.

5. Screen printing apparatus comprising a frame, a work-supporting drumrotatably mounted on said frame, driving means for rotating said drum,and endless flexible screen separate from the drum and mounted on saidframe for travel in a path including a segment of the periphery of saiddrum, said screen over said segment registering with and intimatelycontacting work supported on said drum, spray means mounted on saidframe and reciprocable axially of said drum for directing a spray ofprinting medium at said included seg- ,ment of said periphery, saidscreen hearing a design and having printing areas of open mesh to passsaid printing medium directly to a presented surface of said Work,sprocket chains at opposite sides of said screen andsubstantiallyconforming in path of travel thereto for drivably connecting said screento said drum, and spring means spaced linearly of said screen andconnecting sides thereof to said sprocket chains for transverselytensioning said screen.

6. Screen printing apparatus comprising a frame, a work-supporting drumrotatably mounted on said frame, an endless flexible Screen separatefrom said drum and mounted on said frame for travel in a path includinga' segment of the periphery of said drum, said screen over said segmentregistering with and intimately contacting work supported on said drum,spray means mounted on said frame and reciprocahle axially of said drumfor directing a spray of printing medium at said included segment ofsaid periphery, said screen bearing a design and having printingv areasof open mesh to pass said printing medium directly to a presentedsurface of said work, and a shield overlying said included segment ofsaid periphery and partially enclosing said spray means, said shieldhaving a slot extending lengthwise of said drum and opening from saidspray means onto part of said included segment for limiting thereto thesurface of said work presented at a given time to said spray means.

7. Screen printing apparatus comprising a frame, a work-supporting drumrotatably mounted on said frame, driving means for rotating said drum,an endless flexi- 'ble screen separated from said drum and mounted onsaid frame for travel in a path including a segment of the periphery ofsaid drum, said screen over said segment registering with and intimatelycontacting work supported on said drum, said screen bearing a design andhaving printing areas of open mesh, and said screen being drivablyconnected to and driven off of said drum, spray means mounted on saidframe for directing a spray of printing medium through said open meshprinting areas of said screen directly onto the presented surface ofsaid Work, and means drivably connected to said driving means forreciprocating said spray means axially of said drum in synchronism withrotation of said drum.

8, Screen printing apparatus comprising a frame, a work-supporting drumrotatably mounted on said frame, driving means for rotating said drum,an endless flexible screen separate from said drum and mounted on saidframe for travel in a path including a segment of the periphery of saiddrum, said screen over said segment registering with and intimatelycontacting Work supported on said drum, said screen bearing a design andhaving printing areas of open mesh, spray means mounted on said framefor directing a spray of printing medium through said open mesh printingareas of said screen directly onto the presented surface of said work,and an endless conveyor facially engaging said screen over a portion ofthe travel thereof and cooperating with said screen for conveying workfrom said drum to a discharge point, said screen and conveyor beingdriven off of and synchronized in drive with said drum.

9. Screen printing apparatus comprising a frame, a worksupporting drumrotatably mounted on said frame, driving means for rotating said drum,an endless flexible screen separate from said drum and mounted on saidframe for travel in a path including a segment of the periphery of saiddrum, said screen over said segment registering with and intimatelycontacting work supported on said drum, said screen bearing a design andhaving printing areas of open mesh, spray means mounted on said framefor directing a spray of printing medium through said open mesh printingareas of said screen directly onto the presented surface of said Work,and means drivahly connecting said spray means to said driving means forreciprocation thereof axially and in synchronism with rotation of saiddrum.

10. Screen printing apparatus comprising a frame, a work-supporting drumrotatably mounted on said frame, driving means for rotating said drum,an endless screen mounted on said frame for travel in a path including asegment of the periphery of said drum, said screen hearing a design andhaving printing areas of open mesh, spray means mounted on said framefor directing a spray of printing medium through said open mesh printingareas of said screen directly onto the presented surface of Worksupported on said drum, and drive means for reciprocating said spraymeans axially of said drum.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS537,923 Hildyard Apr. 23, 1895 1,063,529 Giles June 3, 1913 1,508,669Rabezzana Sept. 16, 1924 1,701,568 Hubl Feb. 12, 1929 1,785,833 KeckDec. 23, 1930 1,999,903 Harshberger Apr. 30, 1935 2,017,459 Howe ct al.Oct. 15, 1935 2,217,366 Hicks Oct. 8, 1940 2,379,499 Smith July 3, 19452,549,847 Oldofredi Apr. 24, 1951 2,586,047 Huebner Feb. 19, 1952FOREIGN PATENTS 253,130 Italy May 11, 1927 OTHER REFERENCES Ser. No.385,581, B. Sonnino (A.P.C.), published May 4, 1943.

